What Is Rhinitis?
If you deal with a stuffy nose, sneezing, or a nose that won't drain right, this is what I know about how VA rates it, and what most veterans never get told.
What it is
The most common kind is allergic rhinitis — also called hay fever. VA describes it as an allergic reaction in the nose and airway, and lists it among conditions associated with military environmental exposures.
VA's own symptom list: sneezing; a runny or stuffy nose; itching of the eyes, nose and mouth; post-nasal drip; cough; irritability; and fatigue.
Allergic rhinitis is not the only kind. Bacterial rhinitis and granulomatous rhinitis are separate medical conditions, and VA rates them under separate codes — codes that can pay a lot more than the one most flyers show you. I cover all three below.
How VA rates allergic or vasomotor rhinitis
38 CFR 4.97, Diagnostic Code 6522 — this code only. Other kinds of rhinitis are rated under different codes, further down this page.
| Rating | What has to be documented |
|---|---|
| 0% | Rhinitis is diagnosed, but it does not meet the criteria below for a paying rating. |
| 10% | Without polyps, but with greater than 50% obstruction of the nasal passage on both sides, OR complete obstruction of the nasal passage on one side. |
| 30% | With polyps. This is the maximum under DC 6522 — not the maximum for every kind of rhinitis. See the codes below. |
Other rhinitis codes pay more
If your rhinitis is bacterial or granulomatous, not allergic, a different code applies — and it can pay far above the 30% cap on DC 6522.
- DC 6523, bacterial rhinitis — 10%, or 50% for rhinoscleroma.
- DC 6524, granulomatous rhinitis — 20%, or 100% for Wegener's granulomatosis or lethal midline granuloma.
Ask your provider, in plain words, which kind of rhinitis your chart says you have. A veteran who assumes 30% is the ceiling never files under the code that pays 100%.
Two more ratings people leave on the table
- Loss of smell or taste. If rhinitis or nasal polyps have cost you your sense of smell or taste, that is a separate 10% rating — 38 CFR 4.87a, DC 6275 for smell, DC 6276 for taste. It is outside the respiratory schedule and not capped by the 30% under DC 6522. Limit: VA will only assign it if the examiner documents an anatomical or pathological cause. "I can't smell anything" on its own will not get it — ask the examiner to document why.
- Sinusitis. Rated separately, under its own codes, DC 6510–6514, and rhinitis and sinusitis often occur together. Under 38 CFR 4.96(a), VA's rule against combining ratings applies only to codes 6600–6817 and 6822–6847 — DC 6522 falls outside that range, so a rhinitis rating and a sinusitis rating CAN both be paid. The limit is 38 CFR 4.14: VA will not pay twice for the same symptom, so your sinusitis claim needs its own evidence — incapacitating episodes, antibiotic courses, headaches, and purulent discharge — not the same congestion already paid under DC 6522.
Chronic rhinitis can skip the hardest fight
See VA's presumptive locations and dates — chronic sinusitis carries the same presumption.
Filing and appeal basics
File the initial claim on VA Form 21-526EZ. If it's denied, you have three lanes.
- Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996, within 1 year. Not available for a contested claim; those go to the Board only, on a 60-day clock.
- Board Appeal — VA Form 10182, within 1 year.
- Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. No deadline to file it. But file within 1 year of the decision to protect your effective date. Under 38 CFR 3.2500, filing later means VA can only pay back to the date it receives the Supplemental Claim, not to your original claim date. A Supplemental Claim is the right lane once you get a new exam documenting obstruction or polyps that the first exam missed.